Police arrest man suspected of being Boca mall serial killer
AVENTURA, Fla. (WSVN) -- Police have a man in custody who, they said, may be responsible for kidnapping, robbing and murdering two women and a child at a Boca Raton Mall last year.
Boca Raton authorities are now on their way to Aventura to speak to the man, who police arrested at the Aventura Mall on Friday morning. A shopper called police to say the man looked like a sketch of the suspect released earlier this year. The witness reported he also had sunglasses and a floppy hat, which were depicted on the suspect in the police sketch.
Police received the call at about 11:30 a.m. and immediately headed to the mall. When they confronted the man, who police said is from Miami, he became belligerent and refused to talk to them or give them his identification. They then took him into custody for disorderly conduct.
Meanwhile, police are asking the witness who first reported seeing a man resembling a sketch of the suspect at the Aventura Mall on April 30 to call Crime Stoppers once again. They would like the witness to see the man in custody and determine if it's the same man released in the grainy surveillance still from the mall, following that witness's tip.
Aventura Police have already contacted Boca Raton investigators, who are headed down from West Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade. They want to question this individual who may be responsible for the kidnapping of at least three women and two children last year from the Boca Town Center Mall. One of the victims was able to escape from him with her 2-year-old son. She provided the sketch police released earlier this year.
According to officials, the woman, who chose not to be identified, was abducted along with her son last year at the Boca Town Center Mall. The armed suspect handcuffed them, forced the mother to drive him to an ATM and robbed her.
Investigators believe the same suspect killed Randi Gorenberg in 2007, as well as Nancy Bochicchio and her 7-year-old daughter, Joey, on Dec. 12, 2007. All victims were leaving the mall when the man abducted them and forced them to drive to ATMs, one of several similarities to the unidentified mother. "I am terrified everyday, you know, I have nightmares. I am scared that he's going to break into my house or follow me to my house and probably kill me or my son. I mean, I don't know what he'll do. I mean, he killed a little girl," said the concerned woman.
The woman has since filed a lawsuit against the mall and its property owners, citing lack of security. Family members of the other victims have also filed separate lawsuits. Meanwhile the reward for the conviction of the killer stands at $350,000. The cases reached national attention and were even featured on an hour-long TV special of America's Most Wanted.
Bochicchio's sister, Joanne Bruno, said she would really like to see the killer convicted. "He's walking around free," she said. "My sister and Joey aren't. They have no life. He does. The audacity of him to just come out, the way he did again, it's just amazing. It really did shock me."
The Aventura Mall has stepped up security and police plan to head out with new fliers of the sketch along with a still from the video captured on April 30. Boca Raton police are trying to enhance the video to get a better picture of the man, who the witness said appeared to be following a woman and a young child at the mall that day.
Police have asked anyone who thinks they know the man in the video image to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS. Police also want to hear from you if you may think you are the person on the video incorrectly suspected as the killer, so they might rule the image out as a tip in this case.
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